Friday, November 5, 2010

Trying to See A Little Bit of Good in Everyone

Image via WikipediaToday wasn't a banner day for me in dealing with other people.

Seems some people just can't be nice, honest, polite or fair.

What's new, right?

Out of sheer frustration, I sent out this tweet:

WOW! I am up to my eyeballs in bull crap! Ridiculous! Time to contact a bull crap removal team... And, oh yeah, some people just suck.

Then I reconsidered and sent out this follow-up tweet:

OK, I should probably clarify. What people do or say can suck. Despite acting sucky, there is probably a bit of good in them somewhere.

I admit it can take an extraordinary effort on my part to see the good in other people when they are acting anything but good. But that is the thing I needed to remind myself today. Just because people act sucky and say sucky things doesn't make them sucky.

I know this seems very Pollyanna of me. But I think the thought that there is a little bit of good in everyone is one of the few things that keeps me from crawling into a cave and sealing myself in with a large boulder. Seeing the good in others is how I deal with difficult people.

Yeah, I struggle with this a lot these days. So often it feels like nobody out in the world gives a crap about anything or anybody. It can be so hard to find good in complete strangers who treat you or others like crap. Important to do, but so tough! Can't wait to hear more.